Australia blew a strong start with yet another top-order batting collapse in Sydney yesterday, leaving themselves a mountain to climb to stay in the fourth and final Test against India.
When play was abandoned 30 minutes early due to rain, they were 236-6, 386 behind India on the first innings with Peter Handscomb (28) and Pat Cummins (25) fighting a rearguard action after some soft dismissals plunged the hosts into deep trouble.
Australia went to lunch at 122-1, but surrendered soon afterward, losing three wickets for 24 runs, with spinners Ravindra Jadeja (2-62) and Kuldeep Yadav (3-71) doing the damage.
Photo: AFP
While rookie opener Marcus Harris blazed 79, senior players Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh and skipper Tim Paine all failed to deliver when needed most.
“I got a start and a few of us got a start, but none of us went on to get a big score, so it’s pretty simple to work out what went wrong,” Harris said. “We’re a young group, and we’re trying to work it out and think on our feet, but we’re playing against the No. 1 side in the world, so it’s not like it’s an easy thing to do.”
Despite the task ahead, Harris remained optimistic.
“Obviously 600 is a big score to chase down or get a close deficit, but I think the more time we can occupy the crease, you never know what can happen,” he said.
India took a stranglehold on the match over the opening two days, compiling a huge 622-7 declared on the back of centuries from Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant.
They lead 2-1 after victories in Adelaide and Melbourne, and are closing in on a historic first-ever Test series win since they first toured Australia in 1947-1948.
Yadav said India’s fielding and catching practice was paying off.
“I feel like we are the best side in the world now when it comes to fielding,” he said.
Skipper Virat Kohli’s declaration left Khawaja and Harris to face 10 nervous overs before stumps on Friday, when they crawled to 24 without loss. Khawaja (27) was dropped on zero, but failed to make the most of his second life.
So far, none of Australia’s batsmen have reached three figures over the four Tests, with Harris’ 79 the highest anyone has scored. In contrast, India have had a field day, compiling five centuries.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier